Enjoy life. This is not a dress rehearsal.
Friedrich Nietzsche
The acronym YOLO, which stands for you live only once, has become a somewhat clichéd notion over the recent years. It is still a fashionable idea, especially among the youth, but one that very few people actually practice in the great twenty-first century rat race to outdo each other in the pursuit of material goals.
What we do not realize, or probably realize too late, is that we aren’t going to be around forever. The world is inhabited by nearly eight billion people. A very minuscule percent of them will be remembered, say, twenty years after their death. What are the odds we are going to be one of those select few? And even if those odds were to be comparatively high, is it a truly worthwhile goal if it comes at the cost of our joy?
Life is short – very short – and we have extremely limited time on our hands. As important as stuff like money and success are, they should not get in the way of our happiness. Regardless of our unforgiving schedules and those tight deadlines, we still need to find a way to do the things that actually bring a smile to our faces.
It could be something as simple as taking a few minutes out for your hobby or listening to music while leaning back in your chair with your eyes closed – the point is to do what makes you happy. And happiness comes from doing the things we want to do, not what others want us to do. Happiness comes from being with the people whose company we cherish, not from forcefully staying in relationships with negative people.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, commonly known as Friedrich Nietzsche, was a German philosopher. A staunch proponent of living life to the fullest, Nietzsche is known to have written: “Enjoy life. This is not a dress rehearsal.”